Case Number 16663: Small Claims Court

THE CODE (BLU-RAY)

The Charge

Never underestimate your partner in crime.

The Case

Try not to let the considerable star power of Morgan Freeman (Million
Dollar Baby) and Antonio Banderas (Femme Fatale) lure you in. The
Code (formerly known as Thick as Thieves) is a straight-to-DVD
thriller, and it never manages to rise above that vibe once during the entirety
of its 103-minute running time.

Freeman plays Keith Ripley, an art thief who has managed to elude the police
for decades. He's getting ready to pull off what may be the biggest job of his
career: stealing two immensely valuable Faberge eggs from a museum. In order to
do this, he's going to need some assistance. He recruits Gabriel Martin
(Banderas), a reasonably gifted jewel thief who just might be ready to bring his
game to the next level. While the pair pieces together their grand scheme,
Gabriel begins conducting a passionate affair with Ripley's Goddaughter (a fact
that makes Ripley none-too-happy). As you might expect, once the games of theft
begin, so do the usual plot twists and double-crosses.

It doesn't really surprise me that these two stars would allow themselves to
participate in a piece of junk like this. What does surprise me is that this
film was never intended to be a straight-to-DVD release. All the pieces for a
modest theatrical hit would seem to be here. Director Mimi Leder previously
helmed such mild successes as Deep Impact, The Peacemaker and
Pay it Forward, and the 25 million dollar budget afforded this film is
considerably more generous than films of this sort usually receive. Alas,
somehow just about every single aspect of The Code feels thoroughly
amateur.

The biggest offender is probably the screenplay by television writer Ted
Humphrey, who offers not a single original or interesting idea here. The plot is
loosely based on Every Heist Movie Ever Made, going through the motions with
tedious familiarity. Every plot twist is well-telegraphed in advance, and the
twists are made worse when you consider that some of them directly contradict
what has come before. Without wanting to spoil anything, let me give you a clue.
If you watch the film, please note the big revelation regarding Banderas'
character. Then contrast what you learn about his character with what happens
during the first ten minutes of the film. Pure absurdity! There is only a little
focus on the technical details of the heist, as the film focuses primarily on
creating hip-looking montages set to overheated thump-n-bump music.

The dialogue here is particularly overwritten, unfortunately choosing to
overemphasize just about everything anyone says. As such, many of the
conversations sound as if they were penned by Lt. Commander Data of Star
Trek: The Next Generation: "Sometimes I just need to feel the
rush...the juice, the thrill, the excitement of doing something I shouldn't be
doing." The film is also guilty of a trap that bad writers frequently fall
into, forcing characters to say things they would not normally say in order to
bring the audience up to speed on the plot. This particularly applies to the
police investigator played by Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), who is
agonizingly forced to utter every single thought that crosses his mind
regardless of whether or not it is appropriate to do so.

The performances are all rather unenthusiastic. Freeman is basically
essaying the same sort of villain that he played in Lucky Number Slevin
and Wanted, but he seems even less interested this time around. He utters
his lines calmly and professionally, but one gets the sense that he is really
phoning it in. Banderas doesn't seem to be trying very hard either, bringing
little of his usual vigor to a role that desperately needs more character. Radha
Mitchell has little to do other than look attractive. She admittedly does this
quite well, but she is an actress capable of considerably more. I suppose I
shouldn't have been surprised by the participation of Rade Serbedzija, who also
played a role in Moscow Zero, one of the worst straight-to-DVD films I
have ever seen.

The transfer here is not remarkable, but it gets the job done half the time.
There's a surprising level of grain here during some of the earlier scenes,
though some of this may be intentional. Shading could be a bit better, but
blacks are reasonably deep and the reasonably bright color palette is
well-conveyed. Facial detail is a mixed bag throughout, seemingly varying from
shot to shot. The same applies to the background detail, making The Code
a film that veers between "awesome-looking" and
"standard-def." Weird. The audio is rather unimpressive, particularly
in the contrast between the music and the dialogue, as the former has a tendency
to drown out the latter. Extras include a brief making-of featurette and some
interviews with the cast members.

The best I can say for The Code is that it never becomes truly
unwatchable. Considering the weak transfer and audio, lack of substantial
features and the unimpressive nature of the film itself, I'd advise you not to
bother attempting to crack The Code.